They had my interest with the original Switchblade design, compact general/casual gaming capable with that slick fully customizable keyboard setup. Not so sure I'm as interested in what actually developed here, though. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this unit will perform well, but the pricing is a bit steep for a rather soft market. And they have compromised the one feature that could have made it more of a "must have" product - to go from a fully customizable keyboard to just that limited right pad area may kill much of the momentum and excitement that the Switchblade stirred up.

Disappointing price for sure, the hardware is pretty solid, but not three grand solid. You could easily find yourself something comparable for significantly less on the laptop front. And anyone who seriously wants to game on a PC should be looking at a desktop to begin with. On the other hand the switchblade UI looks pretty interesting, maybe they will bring out a keyboard with it in the future.

TomSEA said:
I think the only people interested in "gaming laptops" (which is an oxymoron as far as I'm concerned), are those with more money than sense. And it appears there are plenty of those around.

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While that may be the case for some, I'm sure there are several gamers who use "gaming laptops" since it's their only real option. Sadly this Razor will likely appeal more to the former.

TomSEA said:
I just don't get the whole "gaming laptop" thing. Seriously..$2,800 for a laptop?? Everyone with a lick of sense knows it will be outdated in 2 years.

The way I see it, if you're a gamer - then you have a gaming PC at home. If you want to play games on the road, that's what handhelds are for.

I think the only people interested in "gaming laptops" (which is an oxymoron as far as I'm concerned), are those with more money than sense. And it appears there are plenty of those around.

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Now I agree with you on this...BUT

This is probably one of the rare gaming laptops I would actually buy for the pure fact it is thin and light with fairly decent specs and with optimus it will probably last a little while on battery. However, the price is far to steep to even consider any more, which is a shame.

Anyone with a bit of sense and $2800 would come here, ask the good people at Techspot for advice on how to build a decent desktop, then use the remaining money to buy a laptop if you so need one. Or use the money to buy video games to put that new computer to use.

TomSEA said:
I think the only people interested in "gaming laptops" (which is an oxymoron as far as I'm concerned), are those with more money than sense. And it appears there are plenty of those around.

TomSEA said:
I think the only people interested in "gaming laptops" (which is an oxymoron as far as I'm concerned), are those with more money than sense. And it appears there are plenty of those around.

Click to expand...

The *true* oxymoron is the "gaming netbook". Alienware M11x

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Yeah, if it was more like £500 it wouldn't be so bad, but for near enough £1000?! no way!

TomSEA said:
I just don't get the whole "gaming laptop" thing. Seriously..$2,800 for a laptop?? Everyone with a lick of sense knows it will be outdated in 2 years.

The way I see it, if you're a gamer - then you have a gaming PC at home. If you want to play games on the road, that's what handhelds are for.

I think the only people interested in "gaming laptops" (which is an oxymoron as far as I'm concerned), are those with more money than sense. And it appears there are plenty of those around.

Click to expand...

Heh, I should just create a macro answer for this one, as it seems to always come up when gaming laptops are a topic... Some people (myself included) are gamers who spend more time on the road than at home. Gaming laptops are the only option for people like me, who would rather get in some decent gaming at night, rather than surf through whatever crap is on the hotel's limited selection of TV channels. A handheld console like the PSP works for some situations (I prefer that kind of gaming on a plane, for example), but nothing beats the larger laptop screen when you are relaxing and trying to blow things up. And nothing beats the comfort of being able to utilize key and mouse controls, avoiding the hand cramping associated with long hours of PSP gaming sessions.

All that said, I often shy away from actual marketed gaming laptops, and tend towards more mainstream systems that I can configure to be gaming-capable. Usually I get similar (if slightly lagging) performance, but can save a good chunk of money. And using this method, I find I spend about as much on a gaming-capable laptop every 2-3 years, as I put into building or upgrading my gaming rig in that same timeframe.

I like it. If it can hold a couple SSD's and you can opt the CPU out for a 4-core i7 than this could be a powerful laptop that can be comfortable at work and play, look nice, and not weight a ton. The custom keys and display could have professional uses too. Email/chat in the display, work on the big screen / Map Adobe keys and so forth...

This is stupid. With such a price they will never break through in this market. Who enters a market where there's no customer loyalty for that specific product and decides to price their product higher than the competition? That makes no sense.

Although, the specs are indeed pretty decent for a laptop, and the size and weight are great, overall it's just not justifiable.

That's a really cool laptop but, as other have stated, the price is a real deal breaker. That and a few other details like the default HDD being a bit small for a $2,800 laptop and the included GT 555M graphics, which in its best configuration runs GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus, is comparable to a desktop GT 440 and probably won't be able to run BF3 with acceptable frame rates at the default resolution of 1920x1080.

2GB Ti550 is NOT a gaming GPU, esp. not for a 1920x1080. Price aside, this is a fail from the start for a "gamer". If you want a price competitive laptop with a good GPU, you'd want an HD6970/6990 and NOT an NV overpriced mobile offering.

This laptop is Crap!!! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834157876 This laptop is UNDER $1000 and only a tiny bit thicker! and Kicks the *** out of this Razor laptop... Sorry but TomSEA was right when he was saying "its going to be outdated in 2 years" cuz its already outdated and they haven't even started to sell it yet...

I think the biggest issue with any "gaming laptop" isn't that you can already buy a better product. It's the lack of adaptability. The thing that has always plagued gaming laptops has been that you can't upgrade them to keep up with the times. That's why they are always outdated in 2 years, and all the rest of it. Desktop PCs were blessed with the ability to simplify the swapping of parts, which is why they remain king of the hill as far as hardcore gaming and computing are concerned.

If Razer really wants to revolutionize the gaming laptop as we see it? They need to not only come out with a nice slim form factor, but they need to create a motherboard for their laptops that you can easily swap out the parts for. Newer i7s, newer mobile gpus, DDR4 memory which comes out next year, better HDD capacities and potential for SSDs...

What they have is a very nice product. It will do what it says it can do, it's well designed, it's sleek, it's pretty powerful for what's inside, their keyboard and touchscreen that they've integrated are pretty sweet, but they're also falling into the same hole that Apple fell in. They're trying to make their stuff an exclusive by pricing things highly while ensuring quality and a good brand name. That's where a good chunk of your money is going if you buy one. Their name.

To me, just as it is to you all, this isn't a gaming laptop reinvented. It's refurbished at best. All it is, is the slimmest in its class and one of the most overpriced. When you see a laptop that you can customize as freely as you can a desktop PC, you'll know that the world's first true gaming laptop has finally arrived.